Sacrificial Magic
by Snapegirlkmf
Summary: What if Rumple invoked an ancient magic before he stabbed Pan . . . which had unforeseen repercussions? And gave him a second chance at a life with Belle . . . as well as some other unexpected surprises? Going Home AU ending. Two-shot. Rumbelle.
1. The White Sacrifice

**Sacrificial Magic**

**1**

**White Sacrifice**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, dearies, just playing**

**A/N: Takes place right after the confrontation between Pan and Rumple in Gold's shop, AU of Going Home's ending.**

There were two absolutes in magic, two rules that all magic wielders had to abide by. One was that true love broke all curses. The other was that a willing sacrifice, also known as a white sacrifice, not only broke all curses, but destroyed all evil and redeemed the white sacrifice's soul.

Rumple considered cutting off his own hand to free himself of the cuff Pan had placed there, thus regaining the use of his magic and then reattaching his hand with it. But he swiftly discarded that notion. Pan's magic and his own were equally matched, so having his powers back would not serve him in this case. Then too, he was sick and tired of everyone, including the bastard who was his father, assuming that without access to the Dark One's powers he was helpless—the village coward, as Pan had sneered before leaving to enact his revenge.

He had acknowledged long before that his use of the dark magic had become a crutch . . . but nasty habits could be broken . . . and even Dark Ones could be redeemed.

If he had the courage to follow through on his convictions.

_The boy will be your undoing._

He knew now that the Seer had spoken a possible prophecy . . . but the future was filled with possibilities . . . and he simply had to choose one.

He released the handle of the sword, watched as the blade rocked back and forth before settling to the floor. No. That was a possibility he could not consider.

But there was another.

Gritting his teeth, he climbed to his feet, grabbed his cane, and limped out the door.

_You'll not win, Papa. Not this time. Peter Pan never fails, my ass! This time you will. Because this time you shall face, not the village coward, not the Dark One, but the white sacrifice. And this time, Papa, you lose._

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

"I think . . . I'll start with . . . you," Pan hissed, his eyes glowing with triumph, the darkness within him victorious. He pointed at Baelfire, trapped, like the Charmings, Emma, Regina, Henry, Hook, and Belle in Pan's immobilization spell. They couldn't move, but they could hear everything he said.

He pointed a finger, prepared to snuff out the annoying spark of life that called himself his grandson, the boy whom his pitiful son had spent lifetimes searching for, only to lose now.

"No. You'll start with me," Rumple said coldly, limping up to stand before the frozen line of unwilling spectators.

Pan turned. "Didn't you learn your lesson before, boy? What do I have to do to be free of you?"

"You'll have to kill me," Rumple said evenly. "Which, despite all your crowing and bragging, you lack the spine to do. So who's the real coward, Papa?"

Pan giggled. "You are, Rumple. You always have been. A cowardly little milksop, a millstone round my neck, a leech, just like your mother before you. Neither of you were worth spit. Don't you get it? I want to see you suffer—as I suffered all those years with you tagging along behind me. So I'm going to make you watch while I kill all those you love. And then maybe I'll end your pathetic life, so you can join them in death."

"You're a sick bastard," Rumple growled.

"Yes, I am. Sick of you and sick of those who think they can beat me at my own game. Peter Pan never fails."

"You lie, Papa."

"Do I? And how shall you stop me, Rumple? Without magic you're nothing but a crippled coward!" Pan laughed.

"I don't need my magic to defeat you," Rumple replied. "All I need is right here," he patted his chest. "And here," then he called his shadow from the depths of the jungle on Neverland, bidding it bring him his dagger.

The shadow came in a rush and dove towards him, he held out his hand, and the dagger fell into it, just as the shadow swept into his body, rejoined at last with its host.

Rumple lunged, pulling his youthful father close, and hissing, "You forget, Papa, about the oldest law of all. And now I'm going to remind _you."_ Then he said , looking one last time upon his son and his beloved, "Bae, I spent three lifetimes trying to find you and correct the last mistake I made with you, and I regret all that I have done as the Dark One, except for finding you again. I love you, Baelfire."

"Such a pretty speech," sneered his father.

Rumple ignored him. "Belle, you are my heart, my soul, and you give me strength when I falter. Never forget that I loved you and perhaps in another life, we shall meet again." His eyes glistened as he gazed upon her one last time . . . then he spun and shoved the dagger of the Dark One deep into Pan's body.

The cursed blade penetrated both flesh and magic, and Pan shuddered and suddenly his youthful body fell away, to reveal the middle-aged man who he had been before coming to Neverland.

Malcolm gasped. "No! This is impossible! Rumple, please! We can still have our happy ending!" he pleaded, only then realizing what Rumple meant to do.

"Villains don't get happy endings, Papa," Rumple growled, still holding tight to the older man. Then he shoved the dagger through Pan's heart . . . and into his own as well. "All magic comes with a price, remember? And this one, Papa, I pay willingly. You lose."

Rumple felt the power of the sacrifice enter him, transmuting him, changing him . . . he felt the dagger stab him, but the pain was inconsequential compared to the rush of sensations that filled him. He was a ribbon of light, a breath of wind, a pure note of music, a child's golden laugh, a mother's regretful tear, a lover's last kiss, a father's grateful embrace, the ancient magic swept through him, receiving his essence and transforming it into something totally unexpected.

And then it exploded outward as well, flowing into the corrupt being before him.

Pan's back arched as the power entered him, gave a silent scream as its fiery essence took his body and unmade it, bit by bit, returning it to the ashes and dust it had come from.

Rumple could feel the magic working and knew he needed to do one last thing before his sacrifice was accepted. He leaned in and pressed his lips against his father's dry cheek, giving him the kiss of peace. "I forgive you," he whispered, then the magic swept over them both, in an unstoppable tide, breaking all bonds, old and new.

Purple smoke covered the two figures for an instant.

When it cleared, Malcolm was gone, the magic having destroyed evil, rendering it dust once more. And Rumple lay still upon the ground, unmoving, like a corpse.

For a moment no one moved, even though the spell that bound them was gone.

All remained frozen in a horrified tableau.

Then Belle sucked in a breath. "_Rumple!"_

The cry was torn from the depths of her being, one long agonizing wail of denial as she beheld her beloved there on the ground . . . the white sacrifice accepted.

She sank to the ground, sobbing, grief stabbing her like shards of fiery ice, impaling her heart.

Through her tears, she could see Bae, just staring at his father's body, his eyes wide with pain, heard him form the words, "No . . . Papa . . . no . . ."

Belle staggered to her feet then, the jagged shards of her broken heart stabbing her as she tottered over to take Rumple's still form in her arms. She knew he was gone, though he was still warm, because she knew well the magic he had invoked. Sacrificial magic always required a blood price to be paid.

Tears flowed endlessly down her face, spattering upon his waxen cheeks, dripping into his silky hair. Mute, she shuddered, wracked with silent sobs, and then she pressed her lips to his, for one last kiss . . .

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

He blinked, and found himself Elsewhere, in a place of silver mist and golden light. Here, in this place, he had no body, for he did not need one. Here, at last, he had achieved the peace and love he had searched for all of his life. Contentment filled him . . . and then a voice spoke from out of the swirling ether.

"_Rumplestiltskin. You are the white sacrifice, redeemed, reborn anew, cleansed of all your sins. You have paid the price of sacrifice. A life for a life, as the ancient laws demand. But unlike most sacrifices, the scales do not balance in your case. So, unto you, a choice is given. Remain . . . and dwell forever in the harmony and peace of the Everlasting Realm . . . or return, to begin your life anew, all curses broken, the same and yet changed . . ."_

"I don't understand . . ."

"_A sacrifice was required and accepted. Yet . . . long ago you made a deal you didn't understand the price of . . . and your free will was violated by the machinations of a dark sorcerer . . . thus a debt is owed, and a choice offered. Choose, Rumplestiltskin."_

"If I choose to live . . . will everything be as it was before?"

"_What has gone before is done and over with. You shall be given a life anew, changed and yet the same. The choice is yours."_

Rumple was torn. The peace of the Everlasting Realm called to him, promising him an existence without suffering or pain, only endless joy and contentment. Yes, he would die, but his spirit would be reborn, never to know strife or shame or darkness ever again.

Or he could go back . . . back to a life that was the same yet forever changed . . .

_Choose._

It was then he heard something . . . no, _someone_ . . . weeping . . .

He knew instantly who it was.

There was only one person who had ever loved him first and foremost, without flinching, loved him both as a man and a beast, the brief flicker of light that had beaten back an ocean of darkness . . .

He shut his eyes.

Then he chose.

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

She kissed him as if it were the last act she would ever perform, her lips covering his cold ones in desperate denial, her shattered heart beating erratically as she whispered, "I love you. I love you."

Saying now the words she could not say then . . . hoping that somehow he could hear them still, that a part of his spirit still lingered . . .

_Your love gave me strength._

_Would that my love could bring you back to me._

Suddenly air rushed into her mouth, as her beloved gasped, shuddered, and opened his eyes.

"Belle!"

"Rumple!"

Their eyes met, and in each shone the promise of a love rekindled, hope reborn, a life regained.

Then he was kissing her back, his lips devouring her in a fiery celebration, that caused her to quiver all the way down to her toes. She as yet had no words for the miracle that had occurred, nor did she search for them, not then. There would be time for that later.

But even as they kissed, the reactivated Dark Curse swept over them, making all as it was before . . . with one or two exceptions by its caster. . .

Swirls of enchanted purple and black smoke covered them . . . whisking them back from whence they had come . . .

Rumple rubbed his eyes, ridding them of the stinging smoke.

He was lying on the ground, the stones of the castle courtyard digging into the small of his back, his hands still holding Belle against him.

Slowly he sat up, hugging Belle hard, and glanced around.

"Rumple . . . where are we?" Belle asked.

"We're . . . in the courtyard of . . . of my . . . of the Dark Ca_s_tle," he amended, recalling that now he was no longer cursed, no longer the Dark One. His skin was no longer sparkling gold, but normal human flesh, his hair was no longer the curly pelt of a beast, but silky straight brown locks, his eyes were no longer reptilian, but ordinary human brown.

He turned his head and his eyes widened in disbelief.

For he and Belle were surrounded . . . by a group of children, ranging from eight to fourteen, all staring about as if they'd never seen anything like this before.

Belle's mouth dropped open. "Oh my God, Rumple!"

"You can say that again, dearie," he replied wryly,wondering what the hell had just happened.

**A/N: OK, so what do YOU think happened? **


	2. The White Magician

**2**

**The White Magician**

Rumple looked at the children surrounding him and Belle, trying to figure out who they all were. One of them looked . . . no, it couldn't be . . . it was impossible . . . and yet . . . he would know this boy anywhere . . .

"Papa?" Bae called, his face crinkling in puzzlement.

"_Bae_?" he whispered in a hushed tone, disbelief flashing through him like a comet across the heavens. For it was Bae, as he had been before going through the portal, a fourteen-year-old boy again, and not the man he'd known back in Storybrooke and Neverland.

_You shall regain your life anew, a life that is the same yet forever changed._

"I . . . I don't understand . . . Belle, what's happened?" he muttered, still hugging her.

"Rumple, the curse came . . . and it was supposed to send everyone back where we came from, but . . . I don't know why Bae's . . . a child again . . . or who are the rest of these children?" She looked from him to the four boys and a little girl who were staring at them.

"Papa, don't you remember us?" cried a boy of about ten, with brown hair and eyes in a cream colored tunic and red pants. "It's me, Merry."

"You're . . . my son too?"

"Uh huh. You adopted me, and my brother Pippin, we used to be Lost Boys, on Neverland, before you came and rescued us."

"Your name's Merry?" Rumple repeated, feeling his head whirl.

"Uh huh. Short for Merril," the boy replied. He indicated another boy with curly brown hair and hazel eyes that looked similar to him, though slightly older. "And that's Pippin."

"And who are you?" Belle asked the youngest boy, who was adorable, with dark brown hair and eyes.

"I'm Killian. I'm adopted too, I was on Neverland with Pippin and Merry. I was a pirate once . . . I think . . . on a flying ship."

Rumple gaped at him. "What?"

Pippin rolled his eyes. "Papa, he's always telling stories like that. He likes boats and stuff, and he thinks he wants to be a pirate when he grows up."

Belle's gaze darted to Killian's right hand . . . which looked like it was missing two fingers. "What happened to your hand?"

"That? You remember, Mama. I told you, I lost two fingers playing one of Pan's knife games," Killian replied. "It was called toss and catch, and he threw it and I missed it. And the forfeit was my fingers."

Rumple swore under his breath. His father and his bloody sadistic games! Even if . . . he could swear this boy was Captain Hook . . . he turned to the last child, who was about six, and had the biggest blue eyes and long platinum blond hair. "How about you, dearie? What's your name?"

The little girl suddenly ran forward and grabbed him about the neck, crying, "I'm Elsa, Papa! You remember me! That nasty Peter kept me locked up in a cage, so's he could use my snow n' ice magic, but I wouldn't let him. You rescued me too and . . . and you said . . . you said I'd be your little girl forever n' ever. . . " Huge tears formed in her brilliant blue eyes . . . and as they dripped down her face they turned to ice and clinked on the ground.

Rumple found himself hugging the child to him, and as he touched her, he felt a sudden love and acceptance bloom within him. _This is the life I was promised. With these children, including Bae._ "Elsa, dearie, don't cry. I just . . . I got hurt and my memory's a bit . . . patchy." He stroked the child's hair, feeling a tingle of magic as he did so. Snow and ice powers. So this was a magical child. _Your child now. Yours._

He rose, still holding Elsa, and held out a hand to Belle. "So . . . this is still my home . . ." he said to her.

"It would seem so," she said, smiling at the children. "But Rumple . . . is Killian . . . Hook?"

"I . . . yes . . . but he's been changed back to a kid too . . . along with Baelfire," Rumple said, puzzled.

"How?"

"I'd say the curse, only it shouldn't work like that," he frowned. "But if we're here . . . then so is Regina, who used the scroll to alter it. I believe I should pay her a visit . . . after we . . . err . . . get settled back in the castle again."

They turned and walked into the main room of the castle.

Belle's jaw dropped and she gasped, "Rumplestiltskin! This place is . . . a disaster! How'd it get like this?"

"Don't you remember, Mama?" Bae spoke up then, looking at his parents oddly. "Robin and his Merry Men stayed here for a long time before we came back . . . and they . . . uh . . . left it like this . . ."

"Where are they now?" Rumple demanded, scowling. How dare that . . . that thief come and live in his castle? And make such a disgrace out of it!

"They left, Papa. It's in the note on the table there," Bae pointed to a piece of paper sitting on the table, which was practically the only whole piece of furniture in the place.

Rumple went and picked it up.

_Dark One,_

_My apologies, but we needed a place to stay and since the castle was abandoned for years, I thought it okay if we lived here for a time. Sorry my housekeeping skills aren't the best. But that's how it is when you live_ _rough with twenty men and a small boy. Marian died in childbirth. But when I heard of the Queen returning to her palace, I decided to pay her a visit with my men. _

_Again, I thank you for your hospitality, and bid you good day._

_Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves_

"He's got some nerve!" Rumple muttered, crumpling the note.

"This place is a pigsty!" Belle declared, her mouth pursed in distaste. "Men! They're like pigs! Look at this! Bones all over the floor, broken pieces of wood . . . garbage . . . disgusting!"

"We'll help you clean up," Pippin volunteered.

"Good, because I'm going to need a lot of help to make this place fit to live in again," Belle said, and rolled up her sleeves. "Now, if I only had a broom and some water."

Rumple gestured . . . and several buckets of water and mops and brooms appeared on the floor about him. It was a simple spell . . . yet he suddenly felt unexplainably weak. _You are no longer what you were. The same yet forever changed._

He staggered and would have fallen but caught himself on the table.

"Rumple!" Belle cried in alarm. "You're pale as a sheet! You'd better sit down."

"Here, Papa," Bae said, dragging a stool over to him. "You rest here and we'll help Mama. C'mon, boys! Grab a mop!"

As his brothers ran to get a mop or a broom, Elsa scrambled out of Rumple's arms and yelled, "Me too, Bae! I can help!" She grabbed a broom that was almost bigger than she was, and began trying to sweep, making the dust fly everywhere.

Killian sneezed. "Aww, Elsa! You're making it worse!"

"Am not!" she declared, then she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Are too!" he made a face back at her.

"Am not, you silly ol' pirate!" she declared, then poked him with the broom.

"Are too, you stupid snow queen!" he snapped, and went to shove her.

"Stop it! Right now!" Belle said, coming to pull Killian away from Elsa. "Or else no supper and an early bedtime."

The two subsided, muttering, "Yes, Mama."

Belle directed them to start cleaning on opposite sides of the room. Then she turned to Rumple and whispered, "What do you know? It actually worked."

"Sure it did, dearie. You're their mother, as far as they're concerned," the sorcerer chuckled. "You know, I can use magic and help."

"No, Rumple. You've be_e_n mostly dead all day," Belle refuted. "You rest, like Bae said. I can handle this. If there's one thing I know how to do, it's clean." She looked about the room in disgust. "They left this place like a midden! Filthy animals!"

An amused Rumple watched as Belle attacked the castle's main room and then the kitchen with a vengeance.

Her "army" of helpers trailed after her, scrubbing, sweeping, throwing garbage into a heap outside the back door. She set Elsa to washing the table with a soapy rag, while she swept the dust from the floor and then had Merry clean out the fireplace.

The boy set to, emerging from the task with a soot covered face. "Look, I'm a chimney sweep!"

Elsa turned, giggling. "Merry! You look like a bandit!"

Smirking, he ran at her, and she made the soapy rag wash his face. "Hey! Stop! Elsa, that tickles!" He pulled the rag away and the soot was gone, leaving him his normal self again.

"Gotcha!" the little girl singsonged.

"This time," her brother nodded. "But next time . . . better watch out, little snow lynx."

Rumple smiled at the easy way the children worked together along with Belle, and soon he found himself dozing with his head in his hand, feeling very sleepy all of a sudden.

When he woke again, some two hours later, he found a fire crackling in the fireplace, a freshly scrubbed floor, table, and walls. Chairs had been found and placed around the table, and so had some china and silverware.

The children were sitting at the table, drinking tea and eating some bread with butter and jam.

Belle carried a cup over to him. "Rumple, here's some tea. The pantry still works, and I can ask it to get me whatever I need, same as usual," she said, and set down the cup in front of him.

He went to pick it up and gasped. "My chipped cup! It's here?"

"I found it right with the rest of the set in the glass cupboard," Belle said, and then she kissed him.

Rumple kissed her back, thinking that he could get used to this new life very easily . . .

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

After a refreshing night's sleep in his own bed . . . along with Belle, though part of the night they didn't sleep at all, but celebrated their return by some sweet uninhibited lovemaking . . . after Rumple made sure the door was locked . . . Rumple rose and decided to pay a visit to Regina and find out just what the hell had gone wrong with the curse.

He wondered if he still could transport himself places with magic, and soon had his answer when he vanished in a puff of purple smoke and reappeared in Regina's palace.

The queen was just sitting down to eat breakfast with her new guard captain, Robin, his little son Roland, and Henry when Rumple appeared in the doorway.

Rumple's eyes widened when he beheld who was there, and he coughed slightly before saying, "Regina, we need to talk."

The queen turned, dressed in a gown of deep red satin, her hair piled on her head, ruby drops in her ears. "Rumple, don't you ever knock?"

"Am I not welcome here, dearie?" he queried. "I thought I had a standing invitation to drop by whenever I wished." His voice held the slightest bite of mockery. He was dressed in one of his sets of leather pants, boots, and a gold shirt with a brown leather vest. He leaned slightly on a walking stick he'd found leaning against the wall in the main room, that he recognized as his from when he was a simple village spinner, and had notched to measure Bae as he grew.

Regina rose, a frown upon her pretty face. "Excuse us a minute, Robin."

Robin looked alarmed. "Regina, he's the Dark One!"

"Not anymore, dearie," Rumple said. "My curse was broken."

"After he became a white sacrifice," Regina said. "And now I'd guess he's a white magician. Half of what he was, so you needn't worry, darling." She beckoned Rumple to follow her into another room.

Rumple did, casting a glance at Henry as he did so. How the hell did _he_ get here? And the boy didn't even seem to recognize him. He followed Regina into the room and shut the door behind him. "That's really untrue, dearie. I still have magic, but it's different from what it was before."

"Whatever, Rumple," Regina waved a hand impatiently at him. "I could care less about your miraculous return from the dead. You interrupted me with my family at breakfast."

"Your family? How did Henry come to be here? And since when are thieves your family?"

"Robin's a little more than a thief now. He's my captain of the guard, among other things," she smiled a bit lasciviously. "As for Henry, he _is_ my son, why wouldn't he be with me?"

"The curse . . . how did he get here, Regina?"

"Well, as the scroll holder, I could . . . tweak things a bit. And I did. I performed a magical blood adoption on Henry before it hit. You wouldn't know about it because you were busy in the afterworld or wherever you went. So he could come with me and live with me here in my palace."

"And his memories?"

"Altered of course," she replied blithely.

"And what about Snow and Charming? And Emma?"

Regina smirked. "Why, they're here also, of course. In Snow's winter palace, as a family, like they always wanted."

"What did you do to them, Regina?" Rumple demanded.

"Do? My dear Rumple, I merely gave them their happy ending. With their daughter . . . back with them as the baby they lost. I did the same with your son, as a final favor to you, for saving all our lives."

"You . . . changed Bae back into a boy? And Emma?" Rumple cried. "So you could have Henry all to yourself, is that it?"

Regina shrugged. "Like I said . . . he _is_ my son. So I changed the rules of the game a little. So what? You ought to be glad, getting your precious Baelfire back like nothing ever happened. And I assume Belle is with you also?"

"Yes," he said tightly. "And so are some Lost Boys . . . and Hook as a boy! What happened there?"

"He got a little too close to the spell when I tweaked it. How should I know? Why are you complaining, Rumple?"

"Because this isn't right. Change them back, Regina!"

She spread her hands. "I can't. I used the magic of the curse and now it's gone. If you want them back to their old selves, you change them back. But I don't know why you'd want to. You have your boy back again . . . and that annoying pirate is no danger to you now as your son. Really, Rumple, you ought to thank me."

Rumple was speechless.

Regina turned and said, "Now why don't you run on home to your little brood, Rumple? I'm sure your little Belle misses you. I'm going to eat my breakfast before it gets cold. You can see yourself out . . . white magician."

She glided from the room, leaving Rumple muttering swear words in his head before he transported back to his castle . . . which could no longer be called the Dark Castle.

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

"Can't you change them back?" Belle asked later, after they'd eaten supper and the children were all asleep in bed.

"I . . . it's complicated, Belle," he said. "I'm not the same as I was. My magic . . . is different now. I don't know how I know that, but I do. I can do some things the same, like conjuring objects and transportation and I can still spin straw into gold, but a lot of my powers are gone. Except for my healing gift. That . . . is stronger than it ever was."

"Then Regina was right about one thing. You really are a white magician now."

"Yes. But I can't undo what she did. It was done with the Dark Curse, and I can no longer use my magic in that way. So . . . unless I find another magic wielder who can match my former cursed powers . . . I'm afraid Bae, Emma, and Killian are going to remain as they are," he sighed. "And Henry, who believes he's just Regina's son and a prince."

"It figures Regina would find some way to have her cake and eat it too," Belle shook her head. "I suppose there's nothing we can do for now."

"There isn't. So we should make the best of it, dearie. This is the new life I was promised," Rumple stated, then he drew her to him and kissed her passionately. "And the only future I want is with you, right here, right now."

**Page~*~*~*~*~Break**

_Almost seven months later:_

Rumple returned from the village below the castle proper, weary but feeling rather proud of himself, as he had been down there nearly a week, healing people of the strange sickness that had swept through the village, striking the elderly, infirm, and the children especially.

People had been dying before someone had finally been brave enough to approach the former Dark One and ask if he could help them. Rumple had agreed, in exchange for the villagers telling others about his new reputation as the white magician. He found that his newfound powers lent themselves easily to healing, as they once had to destruction.

At first he'd healed individuals with his magic, touching them. But soon that proved too exhausting, and so he had developed a magical elixir that could give a sick person necessary antibodies to fight off the disease and get well.

After he'd distributed the elixir to everyone stricken, and children began to recover, as well as others, the villagers began to whisper about Rumplestiltskin the white magician, who had saved their children and elderly, and slowly his reputation began to change.

He had healed his leg somewhat, so that he could walk almost normally on it, and as he crested the rise leading back to his castle, he saw his children playing on the lawn.

Merry was dangling from the branches of an oak tree, unmindful of the height. He was Rumple's fearless climber, and could scale trees and walls with equal ease, like a squirrel or a cat. He was agile and quick and he always landed on his feet.

Below him, Pippin chased Elsa around the tree, yelling, "Tag! You're it!"

Elsa squealed and cried, "Okay!" Then she stuck out a hand and a blast of icy water hit Pippin in the head. "Gotcha!"

"Hey! No fair! I never said you could use magic!" yelped her older brother.

"Never said I couldn't either," his sister replied. "Now you're it, Pippin!"

As Rumple appeared over the rise, Killian ran over to him, his dark hair tousled. "Papa, Pippin tied me to a tree! It's not good form!"

"Are you hurt, lad?" Rumple asked his youngest son.

"No, but . . ."

Pippin turned and saw Rumple and Killian. "Oh, don't be such a baby! Papa, we were playing kidnappers and he was my prisoner."

"All right, next time no tying up anyone, son," Rumple said.

"But Papa, it's a game," Pippin protested.

"And you can pretend to tie up your brother," Rumple answered.

Pippin huffed, but then nodded. He wasn't usually quarrelsome, Killian was more volatile and tended to have a temper and be mouthy as well.

"Yeah," Killian muttered.

Rumple ruffled his hair. "Go play, lad."

As Killian ran off, calling, "Merry, let's play sheriff and robbers!" Elsa turned and raced up, yelling, "Papa! You're back!"

Rumple reached out and caught his daughter in his arms, swinging her around. "Hey, my little snow sprite. Miss me?"

"Lots n' lots!" the child said, leaning her fair head on his shoulder. "Didja fix all them sick kids and grown-ups?"

"I did, dearie," he said, giving her a return hug. "Where's your mama, Elsa?"

"Inside, cookin'," she answered.

He grinned at her. "Can you keep a secret? I want to surprise her."

Elsa nodded.

"Okay. You go play too," her father said, and set her down. "And no using your magic to freeze your brothers."

"I won't, Papa," she called back, though at times her powers just responded to her mood, but she was growing better at controlling them since Rumple worked with her daily.

Rumple paused and watched his children playing for a moment more, thinking that while it had taken a bit of adjustment at first for him and Belle to accustom themselves to being parents to these children, including one who was once his nemesis, now they were a true family. It had not been hard for either of them to love the children, who only had memories of them being siblings and Rumple and Belle as their parents. Even Killian, whom Rumple had been skeptical of at first, proved to be a lovable scamp, and had grown on Rumple. As Belle had pointed out to him in the beginning, Killian was just a boy now, not Hook, not a pirate, and not the man who had tormented and tried to kill Rumple so long ago. In a way, thanks to Regina, it was as if Hook had died that day the curse came, and now there was only Killian, his imp of a son.

Together, the lot of them were going to turn his hair gray, he thought with a small smile.

He saw Bae galloping on his black mare, Morgana, and waved to his eldest as he continued on towards the castle.

He walked up into the courtyard, past the mermaid fountain, and into the kitchen, where Belle, in her blue dress, was stirring a pot of soup over the stove.

Rumple hid a chuckle as he beheld his beloved, her shapely form swaying slightly from side to side as she stirred, her lovely legs in their white stockings and sparkling shoes making his mouth go dry. He'd always adored the way she looked in an a calf-length dress, so he could admire her slender legs and ankles. As well as her shapely bottom, that begged for him to pat it.

He crept up behind her, putting his arms about her, and whispered, "Surprise, dearie!"

She gave a little squeak and turned around, her blue eyes glittering with joy. "Rumple! You're home!"

Her arms wound about his neck and she kissed him hard. "I've missed you so much!"

He ran his fingers through her hair and murmured, "I missed you more, Belle. But everyone's out of danger now."

"That's good. I bet it feels great to have helped so many people," she said, leaning her head against him.

"Yes, but it feels even better to be home, where I belong." His lips devoured hers.

"Rumple, the children . . ."

" . . . are playing outside and I've been deprived of my wife for four days," he purred. "Now how about you make my homecoming something to remember, sweetheart?"

Belle promptly dragged him out of the kitchen and up the stairs, only too happy to comply.

Rumple found he was quite content to let her tear his clothes off bit by bit, and welcomed her touch and her kisses, thinking as they fell on the bed together, entwined, that he had chosen well, and had at last his own happy ending, though it was one unlooked for and unexpected, the promise of the white sacrifice fulfilled.

**A/N: So this is my AU version of what could have happened in the winter finale. There's a Princess Bride reference in here, kudos for those who can spot it. Also, Elsa is a fairy tale character, who knows who she is? **

**I'd only planned for this to be a small story, but perhaps will continue with more in this AU if my readers would like me to.**


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